Reviews

Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy…you must know how it goes by now, same old, same old, ever since girl offers boy apple.  No, nothing new under the sun – until you see this play.

At first sight, perfect couple with perfect house in perfect world: Todd and Kali (and there’s a dead giveaway, though being called ‘Carly’, on the surface, sounds innocuous), though as the Chinese say, ‘in gaining perfection, you lose control’.  Yet after two whole years, all the signs are still there, that first flood of passion when people fondly imagine themselves as superstars in a blockbuster movie. Mutual adoration has rarely been more expertly portrayed; one loving couple’s playfulness and in jokes tends to be excruciating embarrassment for everybody else.

A breathtakingly intense performance, with tension arising from the start when Todd’s brave face is at odds with his optimistic words, underpinned by the dialogue switching from third to first person. Stress for some can be more endurable by such distancing, as if their problems are happening to somebody else.  Time travels too, making it clear that there will be tears before bedtime, clearer still, that tragedy looms. Ratcheting up the tension even more is the use of sound, in scenes as chilling as a horror movie; Todd suddenly hauled up a wall; Kali plunged into a drowning pool on the computer desk. Unfortunately, the words are largely inaudible and you guess at possession by some evil entity, if more likely, being overwhelmed by their innermost darkest feelings.

Otherwise, the language is dazzling, complemented by the set, music, and incredible choreography, in and out of the dance sequences, enhancing the idea of precarious balancing on a tightrope.  From the use of a narrow staircase and wall to a kitchen bristling with sharp corners and knives (making you keep a close eye on the Philippe Starck lemon squeezer), space becomes increasingly claustrophobic until they end up on the slimmest of stages aka an upended double bed.

So, beautifully and honestly played, and superb acting from Samuel James and Georgina Lamb as a couple who are truly, madly, deeply in love.  Though it may be the audience’s sympathies will go to the one with whom they identify. 

Todd appears a little too good to be true; if sometimes manipulative and passive aggressive, more like survival tactics than character flaws.  He’s even a great cook, though her qualifications include the foul mouth and temper.  It seems strange that he would fall for somebody as insecure as Kali; even if she is very, very good at being good, when devoured by jealousy, she is incapable of preventing herself from being horrid. 

 It is made clear, and very cleverly, that his mother is possessive (though she sounds like a nice lady on the answer machine; telephone voice presumably), but with the inevitable following of patterns, he’s stuck to ‘out of the frying pan’ rather than ‘once bitten…’  Hence, Stockholm as a destination, the syndrome which describes the bizarre bond between captor and hostage. 

And Todd dreamily comments after yet another reconciliation: ‘How attractive it is   true remorse’.  Few will comment on the power of the victim in some instances so the whole damned cycles rolls on and on, forever convinced that things really will change from now on - how dizzying and addictive to have the adored one begging for forgiveness.

From start to finish, the play has you pinned to a rollercoaster of sheer emotion, or rather, a seesaw, going from joy, passion and humour to pain, despair and anger then back again, and again, and again. Absolutely unmissable - though probably not a good idea to go along with your better half.